The Perl Journal (TPJ) did something most print journals aspire to, but few succeed. Within a remarkable short time, TPJ acquired a cult-following and became the voice of the Perl community. Every serious Perl programmer subscribed to it, and every notable Perl guru jumped at the opportunity to write for it. Back issues were swapped like trading cards. No longer in print format, TPJ remains the quintessential spirit of Perl--a publication for and by Perl programmers who see fun and beauty in an admittedly quirky little language.Games, Diversions, and Perl Culture is the third volume of The Best of the Perl Journal, compiled and re-edited by the original editor and publisher of The Perl Journal, Jon Orwant. In this series, we've taken the very best (and still relevant) articles published in TPJ over its 5 years of publication and immortalized them into three volumes.The 47 articles included in this volume are simply some of the best Perl articles ever written on the subjects of games, diversions, and the unique culture of this close-knit community, by some of the best Perl authors and coders. Games, Diversions & Perl Culture focuses on entertaining topics that make Perl users such fanatics about the language. You'll find all of the playful features TPJ offered over the years, including the Obfuscated Perl Contests, Perl Quiz Shows, humor articles, and renowned one-line recipes. The book also contains a panoply of quirky applications of Perl, including genetic algorithms, home automation, music programming, and an entire section on natural language processing.This anthology is an unmatched compendium of Perl lore.

Our look is the result of reader comments, our own experimentation, and feedback from distribution channels. Distinctive covers complement our distinctive approach to technical topics, breathing personality and life into potentially dry subjects. The animal on the cover of Games, Diversions, and Perl Culture: Best of the Perl Journal is a flying dragon (genus drac). Found in the tropical rain forests of the East Indies and Southern Asia, this small lizard has five or six hind ribs on each side that are prolonged and covered with weblike skin, forming "wings." While jumping, the lizard spreads its wings and glides to the ground; it can generally glide almost nine yards. Gliding is used only as a means of locomotion and not for predator escape; toescape danger, the lizard always climbs. The lizard also never glides when it's raining or windy.A flying dragon feeds mostly on small ants and termites and is described as a sit-and-wait feeder. It will sit next to a tree trunk waiting for insects to come to it.A female flying dragon builds a nest for her eggs by forcing her head into the soil to create a small hole. She then lays five eggs into the hole and covers them with dirt, packing the soil on top with a patting motion of her head. The eggs take approximately 32 days to incubate.Humans don't eat flying dragons, and they aren't currently listed as threatened. Jane Ellin was the production editor and proofreader for Games, Diversions, and Perl Culture: Best of the Perl Journal. Colleen Gorman, Sarah Sherman, and Claire Cloutier provided quality control. Sue Willing, Linley Dolby, Jamie Peppard, and Sada Preisch provided production support. Judy Hoer wrote the index.Hanna Dyer designed the cover of this book, based on a series design by Edie Freedman. The cover image is a 19th-century engraving from the Dover Archives. Emma Colby produced the cover layout with QuarkXPress 4.1 using Adobe's ITC Garamond font.Bret Kerr designed the interior layout, based on a series design by David Futato. Erik Ray and Mike Sierra converted the files from pod to FrameMaker 5.5.6. The text font is Linotype Birka; the heading font is Adobe Myriad Condensed; and the code font is LucasFont's TheSans Mono Condensed. The illustrations that appear in the book were produced by Robert Romano and Jessamyn Read using Macromedia FreeHand 9 and Adobe Photoshop 6. The tip and warning icons were drawn by Christopher Bing. This colophon was written by Mary Anne Weeks Mayo.